Pre-Budget Report

On the subject of the so-called VAT reduction, is my hon. Friend aware that, far from reducing the VAT bills of small retailers and businesses with turnovers of less than £200,000—businesses that pay under the flat-rate VAT scheme—the Government are actually increasing those bills, by not reflecting the adjustment correctly to take into account the reduced VAT input tax? The margins of many thousands of businesses will be reduced as a result of this so-called tax cut.